A Mind Locked Up
by LabyrinthDweller
Summary: Aelita does not like the origin and nature of her new identity.


_OOPS I just finished rewatching the second season. This is what you get!_

_Takes place somewhere after "Revelation" and around the beginning of "The Key"_

_(this thing turned from something genius to a "haha what IS this" to "...Yeah whatever, just rambling.")_

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**A Mind Locked Up**

Aelita stared at the finer details of the soft moonlight that streamed in from her window. It glowed off the dresser, faded into the carpet, retreated back and forth as the shadows chased it. Silvery and bright, it was a cold yet welcome aura. It reminded her of the Ice Sector, riddled with waterfalls and icy spires that gave a harsh, solitary feel while giving a sense of protection in its own special way at the same time. Aelita rubbed her socked feet together uneasily underneath the hotel-grade fleece blanket, as if they were cold from just thinking about the loneliest region of Lyoko.

It was well past the time to be awake on a calm May's night. School would soon end and she would then move in with Yumi and her family until the next year started. Life seemed to be moving as fast as the clouds in the sky that lent their fleeting shadows to the gentle light. One by one the clouds came and left without barely leaving enough for a memory.

Aelita was angry.

All this time.

_All this time_, she had believed down to every iota of her body that she wasn't human. She was a virtual being, born of a virtual universe by the intelligence of an insane super computer. She couldn't be materialized in this world. _She wasn't human_. The material world was a mystery to her, she had no recognition of anyone or anything. The Hermitage was just an old house that Xana was using to mess with her mind. Her home always was and will still remain Lyoko, the place of her origin. She knew the rules there, she knew the towers and the landscapes and the inhabitants.

The bright, lively forest. The majestic, quiet mountains. The menacing, deceptive desert. The lonely, protective tundra. She remembered only that from the time she woke up to the bed she now struggled to sleep in. They were _familiar_ to her, and despite the wretched monsters that shadowed her every step Lyoko was much more hospitable than the material world and the monsters she found lurking here disguised as fellow classmates.

Now Jeremy tells her that she was always a part of the material world. Now he tells her that she should remember the chilly wind and the perky rain and the warm sun shining on the lush earth. Now he tells her that she should remember such classroom monsters and bustling cities and a family that she never had.

A family that she never had with a father who was a madman.

Aelita gripped the blankets as an unforgiving rage tensed her body. She had watched a few entries of Franz Hopper's diary over Jeremy's shoulder, just snippets of information that all became a blur once he broke the real news to her. After that, all she saw from the diary was a man, supposedly her father, babbling nonsense, avoiding justice, locking his sanity away to a place where it would not survive. Franz Hopper, in her eyes, was a despicable man. Even if she had never ever talked about what parents were like with her friends, she knew how a father should and shouldn't act. If he hated the work he was doing so much, why would he sit for repeated days on end, watching his sanity and his genius rot into absolutely nothing? He gathered enemies and then decided that he despised the world. After that, he brought his daughter into the malevolent insanity, perhaps promising a paradise where nothing could go wrong. He put his daughter directly in harm's way, and eventually her entire life was horrendously warped. She was hunted after by an artificial intelligence, hounded down by monstrous peers and hiding from authorities should the truth about her identity be let out.

And what of her mother? Where was she? Did Hopper do something horrible to her too? Is she trapped within the super computer as well?

What kind of man would _do_ this to his own flesh and blood? Did he have a total disregard for consent, emotions, legality, everything? Why would he do such things, throwing his and his daughter's life into the maw of a dangerous virtual reality? To what end would that take him? Eternity? Did he _really_ wish to live forever in such a deserted place? As much as Aelita considered Lyoko to be her home, she was very grateful that she was able to break free somehow, if only to be bound to her virtual roots.

Aelita squirmed, quickly becoming tangled in the bedsheets. She suddenly wished that everything would never have happened. She wished that Jeremy would have never discovered the factory, dubbed her Maya, invited his friends over. She wished she could've stayed there on Lyoko, Xana and everything. There, she would remain forever in her private, cold little cocoon, and the world would not be subject to danger. Because of her, Xana remained awake, wreaking chaos and hostility. If her father had not virtualized her, she would've lived on none the wiser, and things would go the way they were supposed to. Yes, _that's_ what should've happened, she decided. That's how she would redo everything.

But then, of course, she would've never have met Jeremy. In reality, if what Hopper was saying was true, she was a good twelve years older than most of her friends. If Hopper had not virtualized her, Jeremy would remain an outcast forever, without real friends. Odd and Ulrich would've remained as enemies, seeing as spending life threatening scenarios together would not happen. Yumi and Ulrich would never be as close as they were. Yumi would remain friendless here, perhaps even moving back to Japan before William would arrive to change that. Even if she didn't move, she may not have any social esteem to befriend William anyways—much less anyone else. Ulrich would be stuck with Sissy following his every step. Odd wouldn't even grease his hair every morning as a symbol of what they fought for every day.

She kicked out at nothing in particular, throwing the blanket off of her, letting the moonlight wash over her pink night gown. Frustration crept to her head and escaped via a flood of tears. She was too selfless. Fiercely burying her face into her pillow, she clawed at the mattress.

_Why, why, why, why, why._

None of them were strong enough. Somehow they all knew this and never voiced it—they _had_ to know that this would end in tragedy. Hopper should've known that this would end in tragedy. Or was that what he wanted?

_Why, why, why, why, why?_

She swore that if Jeremy wanted to take this battle further that she would not participate. She would go to any drastic measure to make sure that everyone was safe, even if it meant throwing herself away.

Hopper went too far with her as his puppet.

She didn't want any of her friends to meet the same fate.

Shadows drifted. The moonlight faded from her vision. Aelita Stones, Aelita Hopper, fell asleep.


End file.
